All eyes are now on the last of the 13 sites identified by the whistleblower in the Dharmasthala secret burials case. It remains the only spot yet to be inspected by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in its search for remains of the bodies that the former sanitation worker allegedly buried under duress in the temple town between 1998 and 2014.
Though the site beside the bathing ghat along the Netravati river was expected to be dug up on Thursday, the SIT put off the inspection as a tense situation prevailed around Dharmasthala after Wednesday’s clash involving a few YouTubers and some residents of the town. In the eight days of inspections since last Tuesday, the SIT has been able to recover fragments of two skeletons.
The location sat at the southern edge of the check dam constructed on the river, along the road that goes to Ajekuri village, near the town. Close to the site is also the bathing ghat, which pilgrims arriving at Dharmasthala visit regularly to take a dip in the river. Adding to the difficulty in the inspection was a power line running along the 13th site, which had the most number of bodies secretly buried, according to some lawyers involved in the case.
Locals say the spot was one of the locations that went underwater when devastating floods hit the region in 2019. Mud was also dumped over the years at the site for the construction of the power line, they add. Because of this, the SIT is learnt to be considering the use of ground-penetrating radar to detect any skeletal remains around the site.
On Thursday, police stepped up security in Dharmasthala and neighbouring areas in the wake of the attack on YouTubers over their alleged “negative depiction” of the temple town in their coverage of the secret burials case.
A reporter of a Kannada news TV channel was also targeted, outside a hospital at Ujire, where five YouTube were being treated for injuries they had sustained in the earlier attack.
The Dakshina Kannada police have registered seven FIRs in connection with the assaults as well as a protest held in front of the Dharmasthala police station without permission.
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The whistleblower has claimed that the bodies possibly belonged to victims of sexual assaults.